The extreme unpredictability of campaign jobs separate them from employment avenues that in normal times are considered more stable. Still, the pandemic has left heightened uncertainty in its wake.
In an interview, Doris-Pierce said she had been struggling to craft a cover letter that would resonate with the moment.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘How am I supposed to talk about myself and why people should hire me when people are reasonably very concerned about other things?'” she said. Nothing seemed to come off right: “My skills as a team player would come in very handy as your team struggles to handle a pandemic,” she joked.
Other former campaign workers are also venting their frustration online.
“Imagine being recently unemployed and trying to get a new job during an unprecedented global health crisis,” a former Klobuchar staffer wrote in a recent Twitter post.
“Didn’t realize it would be so easy to imagine,” a former colleague responded.
Job hunting is never easy. But job hunting during an unfolding public health crisis is infinitely worse.
“The moment that we are in is kind of a one-two punch in that Super Tuesday happened, and then two weeks later the whole country is locked down and campaigns don’t have intention to hire right now when everyone is working from home,” said a Democratic official who, because he remains employed, declined to be named in order to speak candidly.
“That’s a toxic combination for folks who are on the job hunt right now,” he added.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two Democratic contenders still fighting for the nomination, have basically done away with traditional campaigning for the time being. The two have canceled rallies and fundraisers and directed campaign staffers to work from home.
On Tuesday, with three states hosting nominating contests, the Sanders campaign said it halted efforts to get out the vote. “We are making clear to voters that we believe going to the polls amid the coronavirus outbreak is a personal decision and we respect whichever choice they make,” spokesman Mike Casca said.
Sanders lost in those three states, widening the gap between himself and Biden. On Wednesday, campaign manager Faiz Shakir said Sanders will “assess his campaign” in the coming weeks. If Sanders drops from the race, hundreds more Democrats could suddenly be jobless.
“My expectation is that everything is going to be slower,” said Ben Ernst, who until recently served as Klobuchar’s New England states director for Maine Massachusetts and Vermont. “Looking from the outside of the campaigns, they are going to have to figure out how to do all the things that we normally do in person over the phone or online, and any change takes time.”
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/former-campaign-staffers-are-looking-for-new-jobs-amid-coronavirus.html